1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to printers, and more particularly, to a low profile printer integrated within a digital set-top box.
2. Related Art
Set-top boxes such as cable television boxes, Internet terminal boxes etc. are increasingly being used with consumer home entertainment equipment such as television sets. For example, most “pay for” broadcast services that use television interaction, such as cable television services and Internet access services via the television, require their users to have some type of set-top box. Note that the term “broadcast services” refers to signals being transmitted over analog telephone lines, coaxial cable lines, fiber optic lines, satellites and the like.
The set-top box typically allows the user to select between channels, perform programming functions, etc. Also, for efficient broadcast transmission and, in some cases, to ensure that only paying customers are using these services, the broadcast signals are usually scrambled or encoded before being transmitted and the set-top box decodes the signals. Consequently, television set-top boxes are becoming an integral part of home entertainment equipment.
There are many instances when a user may want a hardcopy of the information displayed on the screen of their television set. For example, a user may want to print e-mail messages, maps, recipes and information-rich content, such as still or captured scenes from a live broadcast, digital video disk (DVD) players, movie cameras, video recorders etc.
Currently, conventional printers are manually connected to the set-top box when users desire hard copies of the information displayed on the screen of their television sets. However, most conventional printers are bulky, and thus require large amounts of space in users' home entertainment units. Also, expensive and additional cables are required to connect the printer to the set-top box. Further, most conventional printers are not aesthetically appealing like entertainment equipment. This is because most printers are not designed to be used with an entertainment center, but are instead designed to be used with other office equipment. As such, most printers do not match well with other home entertainment equipment.
Thus, what is needed is a set-top box with an integrated low-height printer that will save space in home entertainment units. What is also needed is a printer that will blend in with ordinary home entertainment equipment and will not require the use of exposed and expensive printer cables.